Exodus Ch.4

Holy Spirit, thank you for all that You have been to us in this month. May You reveal more of Your truth as we read and share the Word today In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

This chapter begins with Moses who now has the clear instructions from God to deliver the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. Nevertheless, Moses still doubts whether he will be able to meet this great assignment. He asks God in Exodus 4:1, "...But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, "The LORD has not appeared to you."

God then proceeds to provide Moses with various miraculous signs that He would demonstrate to the Pharaoh of Egypt in order for him to let His people free. Some of these miraculous signs included, the rod that Moses carried turned into a serpent; his hand became leprous and was also healed immediately and finally the water from the river that turned into blood when it was placed on dry ground (Exodus 4:3-9).

Moses was still not fully convinced he was the man for the assignment to deliver God's people out of captivity.

He gave God yet another 'excuse' concerning his speech impediment. Exodus 4:10 reads, "But Moses pleaded with the LORD, "O Lord, I am not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled."

In the previous chapters, when Moses was much younger, we saw he had the zeal to save and look out for his people. However, when he fled in fear for his life after killing an Egyptian soldier (Exodus 2:14-15), it may be safe to conclude that Moses lost all hope as Egypt's deliverer. But his loss of hope did not mean that God's plan for his people had changed despite God appearing to Moses through the burning bush almost forty years later from the time he left Egypt.

The thing about God's assignments is zeal and human passion cannot set people free from bondage. Only the truth and power of God's Word possesses the real power to set people free. As much as Moses had the zeal to save his fellow Hebrew people from bondage when he was younger, it is possible his character, revelation and knowledge of God still needed to grow in order to better equip him for this great assignment.

On the other hand, Moses' focus on his physical inadequacies did not disqualify him from the assignment in God's eyes because the LORD's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). I believe God knew Moses' heart was ready to handle this great assignment despite his doubts. As a result, the Word of the LORD that had been spoken to Abraham centuries ago was also fulfilled, that is, that his people would be slaves in a foreign land, Egypt, for 400 years (Genesis 15:13).

In order to accommodate Moses' requests, the LORD in His patience came up with another plan which was for Moses' brother, Aaron, to be his spokesman. In Exodus 4:15-16, the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do." So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God." This shows that Moses would still be responsible for leading the Israelites out of Egypt despite Aaron assisting him to speak to the Pharaoh. As we shall see in upcoming chapters, God only communicated directly with Moses. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty three years old when they asked Pharaoh to permit the children of Israel depart Egypt (Exodus 7:7).

TO BE CONTINUED...